Tag Archives: biochemistry

In an effort to keep my sanity and have some fun studying for Step 1, I decided to create a short animation of the PI3K/Akt pathway. It’s obviously not anything special and by no means comprehensive, but I just got the software and haven’t done anything like this before, so give me a break! haha Hopefully I’ll have some time to actually get relatively decent using the software after my exam, so I can create some quality videos, gifs, etc. related to medicine. Enjoy!

I’m always on the lookout for helpful videos, technology, books etc. and lately I’ve been spending some extra time on YouTube for physiology videos. A couple of channels that I have found to be extremely beneficial to medical students (or any medical professional) are from MEDCRAMVideos and iMedicalSchool. There are obviously a lot more out there that have plenty of helpful material, but these two have stood out to me over the past few weeks for their wide range of topics and simplified discussions of important medical conditions. I highly suggest any with medical interests check them out and they’ll be added to the Medical Resources page for future reference. Enjoy!

This post is long overdue since I finished classes on Dec. 13, but I’ve been taking full advantage of my Christmas break away from school!

I finished up biochemistry, which went much better than histology. I actually really enjoy biochemistry and had taken it during undergrad which definitely helped! My professor in undergrad was awesome, but very tough since he wanted to prepare all of us for grad school. Looking back, I’m so glad! It seemed like there were much more clinically related aspects to this course compared to anatomy and histology, something I enjoyed. Although there were many detailed mechanisms that didn’t exactly hold my attention, I learned a lot of interesting material.

The complexity of the body is truly fascinating. It’s pretty remarkable that so many processes can occur in such a balanced way. Each time you think something couldn’t possibly get more intricate, you learn something else that makes it even more amazing. The more I learn, the more I thank God for making the world so complex and giving me the ability to learn everything I can about it. I know many people in the field of science and medicine lose faith in God or may have never believed in Him at all. For me, each thing I learn is an affirmation that we couldn’t be here with Him guiding our creation.

A new peptide has been developed called NAP or Davunetide that shows potential for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Parkinson’s. Although further research is necessary, the peptide has had promising results in the maintenance and restoration of the microtubule network of the nervous system.

As life-expectancy continues to increase, the ability to treat neurodegenerative disease will affect more and more of the population.